Book II - The Rise of the Earth
by WillowDream M
Summary: /!\ Modifications: check out Book I - A New Order /!\ (In the process of being written)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

I was there, in the middle of the chaos I had just caused. I didn't know how, it was impossible. Surely my powers weren't that strong. I was only the minor daughter of a minor god, that wasn't even born immortal. And yet, I was surrounded by fallen bodies, and I had done that on my own. They didn't even have the time to come towards me. The fifty of them were around me in some kind of circle. The nearest was maybe a meter away. And just like that, just by striking my staff on the ground, they had all fallen on the ground, as if the wave that had scattered the earth had also scattered their bodies. I was surrounded by a wasteland, with no man standing, when a second ago I was sure to be overwhelmed.

Some of the men down started moving. Soon they'll get up and start asking questions. A few meters away, one of them put his head up. At first I thought he would throw his spear at me. I was still dazed, incapable of reacting. But he just stared at me. But what I saw in his eyes – in her eyes, I realised – wasn't anger, it was awe.

I knew better than to stick around. Soon all these people would wake. I waved my staff around my hand to put it back in its ring form and ran away.

It took me some time to realise where I was, and what had just happened. I really took training too seriously. I got out of the arena, walking on the lower parts of Olympus. Unconsciously, I called for my pegasus. I sensed him arriving him rather than saw him. He landed in front of me, putting his golden wing down so I could jump on him. Just in time, he took a single canter stride and started flying off just as I heard Steven calling my name. Slowly, Silver rose into the air, and soon, I was flying over Manhattan in the sunlight. There, a few hundred kilometres in the air, my mind started clearing, and details came back to me. Fifty-two immortals exactly, sons and daughters of the gods – that's how much people there was in this arena, how much people had suddenly surged towards me in a single wave for no reason, and how much people, in one simple strike, I had defeated.

Zeus was there, watching from his throne. He was always there, these days.

* * *

 ** _I have decided to write all what's happening before that_** ** _rather than explaining it quickly here. So that story will not be updated for a while, as I like to concentrate on 1 thing only. But once I've finished with the prequel, I will come back to this and I will finish it!_**

 ** _It will take the form of a series, with The Rise of the Earth being Book II_**

 ** _So check out the Book I: A New Order !_**


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey, this is kind of an introduction - I know, it's chapter 2 - but there is a big story behind it that's all ready for you to read. So let me know if you want to read more! Chapter 3 will be coming soon_

* * *

As you already know, I am Rebecca Jackson, also known as Becca. Sally likes to say I look like my father, but she's about the only one to say that. We have the same hair colour and the same kind of "troublemaker" face, but the resemblance stops there. I have long dark curly hair that I have renounced to try and make look good. I have blue eyes, because I guess that if you put green and grey together, the in-between is blue – kind of. That's what Poseidon said anyway. Not sure he is too good with colours.

My most prized possession is a very deadly weapon that can turn into a ring when I make it roll around my hand (and then my finger). Now, promise you won't laugh, everybody laughs when they see it for the first time (mind you, they stop laughing when I start using it). It's a "stick", one meter sixty long precisely, perfectly balanced, made of celestial bronze. I like to call it a staff; it has a better ring to it, even if it's not a staff. My brother call it a "walking stick", curse him. Well everybody calls it a walking stick when they see it, but then again, that's before I start using it.

If there is one thing we can say about me: I was fierce, like my parents. Put me on a battlefield and nothing can possibly stop me, even if I fight with a stick. Truth is, I had the fighting skills of my father and the strategy and analysis capacity of my mother. So in the end, maybe I didn't have a weapon that could cut a monster in half, but believe me, well used, a one meter sixty long stick of celestial bronze is deadly. It offers you the opportunity to fight several people at once, and it gives you the benefit of the distance, what kind of shields you against blades and everything else – even arrows if you're fast enough.

Ok, I do feel I have to defend myself there, because really, I wouldn't change weapons for the world. I tried a lot of them – swords, knifes, spears… Nothing is better than my staff. Even a spear is not as good, as you have the blade at the tip that unbalances the weapon.

Ok, I stop there. No more weapon talking. Sorry but it's one of my favourite subjects. Thing is, we have a little tradition with my parents. At around nine or ten, you would spend your first summer at camp, just like any other camper. Because up to that age you had the right to go to the arena and learn how to fight, but we'd be a lot more supervised. We're immortals, our powers started when we were born, not at around thirteen like the demigods. And well, powers are not always easy to control… And demigods can die. I know it sounds horrible…

I had two little brothers. The older one looked just like me, an exact replica; only he was the male version. And he had a kinder look in his eyes. And he was just the sweetest thing ever. I just knew one day all the girls would be looking at him and loving him. We had the best brother and sister relationship you could imagine.

His name was Tony. I mean, his real name was Theo (the Greek word for "god", so original!), but when I was five I thought that I had to find my brother a nickname. Don't ask me why, I just wanted to, and I tend to do things just for the sake of doing it. But of course there was no nickname existing for Theo. But one time I heard on the TV someone that was named "Anthony" being called "Tony", and I just thought it was cool. My brother was only one by this time. I just started calling him Tony, and as he was answering just to that, my parents stopped calling him Theo. Now he's just Tony, for everybody.

There are two things you need to know about Tony: he loved anybody unconditionally and he was terribly afraid of spiders. I guess that explains our relationship. The idea of a fun time to me was going in the woods, finding a poor little spider to torture – I loved torturing them so much – and then racing around the house behind Tony, holding the spider in my hands. Then I would kill it and my brother would simply run into my arms and cry until he had no tears left, what could take a very long time. I guess it was kind of rule between us: no affection unless you've earned it.

I also had another little brother. He was born when I was seven. His name was Chris (and I didn't find a stupid nickname for him). He was born blond but his hair got darker when he grew up. He had my father's eyes, green like the sea, but the rest of his features were more on the Chase side of the family. I guess he was always a little more on his own compared to the relationship I had with Tony. We were born so close him and I, I guess it kind of linked us a certain way.

* * *

Anyway, coming back to my story. Spending our first full summer at camp was kind of a right of entry. I felt like it was the most beautiful day of my life when it happened. And of course, when you have godly parents that are allowed to interfere in your lives, well, they interfere, in a good but dangerous way. Before my "departure" for camp (because of course to be like a real camper you'd sleep in the cabins, not in my room at the Trident), my godly grandparents came to see me and asked me to choose the weapon I wanted and the way I wanted to conceal it – like Riptide turning into a pen. Athena advised me, talked me through different kinds of weapons, and when we settled on my staff, Poseidon had the idea on the shape it could take – a ring. The morning after, my uncle Tyson – my father's Cyclops half-brother – gave me the ring.

That's how my adventure began. A lot less glamorous than my father who fought the Minotaur barehanded or my mother who ran away, but still, it was a good beginning. After all, I only had to cross a bridge, my chances to meet a monster there were extremely thin.

I'll always remember my first day at camp. My father had told me a lot of things about it, especially how you had to make your own reputation the first day. He made the toilets erupt on his bullies; I'll just try for something a little more stylish.

Some things you have to know about us, immortal kids of the god. We grow up twice as fast as humans, meaning that I was only four and a half years old, and yet I looked like I was nine. Don't know if you've ever heard of stories about the gods being mentally fully grown when they were just newborns? Like Hermes who stole Apollo's cattle when he was just a few hours old? Well, these are the major gods, so they grew up a lot faster. Us, kids of immortals, we just grow up faster than humans, but we still go through the baby stage. And we don't go to school up until we are nine or ten. I'll talk about school later.

Why am I telling you this? Well, imagine the situation: I am theoretically four years old, my dad is kind of the headmaster, I wasn't arriving after a dangerous trip that involved monsters and near death experiences, and I have never been in a place such as school or any kind of group of fierce kids that settle hierarchy over toilet bowls.

I wasn't scared. I'm never scared. Or I'll never admit it anyway. I was walking up confident. I decided I'd go in cabin three – Poseidon's cabin – since my parents didn't have a cabin. Imagine how gross it would be if they started having demigod kids that came up to camp one day… So I had the choice between Athena and Poseidon. I didn't choose Poseidon because I preferred him. It's just that the cabin was empty – not Athena's.

Things never go unnoticed at camp. The second I finished to unpack my bag, the other kids were waiting for me outside. Of course it wasn't a welcoming party. It was the Bully Team, the one that wanted to know who had the nerve to go in cabin three.

The composition of that team is kind of expected. Ares kids. And it was led by no other than Peter, son of Zeus. He was such a stereotype. Fifteen, tall, dark hair, blue eyes, super white teeth, gorgeous smile that said "I'm awesome and I know it", with the body of an athlete and the perfect skin tan. All the Aphrodite girls were after him (the others too for that matter) but so far he had been the one breaking all their hearts, not the other way around.

And he was just there, looking at me with his arrogant smile, and I could feel it passing between us: the tension, (or could we call it electricity? Just joking) the way he was sizing me up. I just held his glare and I knew. I wasn't only the new kid. He was popular because he was Zeus's son, but I was immortal. I was his new target.

He didn't say anything, didn't do anything. His buddies started to walk away and so did he, at some point. I thought maybe my age pulled them back. Well, we'll see in the arena if my age is a problem.

My wish was granted fast. It was the first day back at camp for the summer campers, and the first thing they did was going to the arena. I was on my own in cabin three, and thus my own senior counsellor, so I just chose what I wanted to do. It was a good occasion to try out my new weapon.

A new thing that my parents had improved at camp: training. Some years ago, after the Argo II was constructed, bunker nine (as you all know it, discovered by Leo Valdez, who was maybe alive somewhere, or maybe dead, nobody knew) was used for the construction of other things. Cabin nine had found these blueprints of Training Automatons (or TAs, as we called them) and had designed twelve of them. They were the size of a normal adult, only they were machines. They had little screens on their faces, and you could fight them in different modes: "beginners", "advanced", "hard", "very hard", "you're dead" and "P&J" modes. Apparently the P&J mode was made for "Percy and Jason", who are actually the only ones who ever got that far. Most of the campers were "advanced" or "hard", and a few good ones from time to time would be "very hard". Of course Peter was one of these talented people.

I decided to start low, just to try out my new weapon. I put TA number 5 in beginners mode and started out with simple moves. It was easy, and my staff was so balanced and so easy to manipulate. In no time, TA number 5 was on the ground before me with the word "dead" glowing on its head. I started training into advanced mode. It took me a few more dodging and sidestepping before finding the right opportunity and knocking the TA to the ground by hitting it behind its knees. The word "dead" appeared on its head again. So far so good. I ordered him to go on hard mode. I had never done it before. I was usually training with my father or my mother, but they were busy right now. I have to say, it wasn't the wisest thing I've ever done. I had a new weapon between my hands and the hard mode, well, was hard. The TA didn't even let me the time to realise it had started to move. It knocked my staff out of my hands and pointed its sword at my chest, the word "winner" flashing on its head. I felt so stupid. I took my weapon off the ground, and activated the TA back in advanced mode.

Of course that's when Peter found his tongue.

"Well now, that was impressive! I think I've never seen someone losing that fast in hard mode. I guess you do things faster than the others, seeing that you're immortal and all." His friends started giggling behind him. He flashed his "I'm so awesome" smile and looked at me like I was some kind of joke. I didn't let him get to me. My TA was set anyway, and in advanced mode, it was giving you the chance to start first, but it wasn't going to wait for you eternally. I engaged. Seeing that his smart talk wasn't offending me, he continued:

"What's with the stick anyway? Do you use it for walking or what?"

New giggles. I concentrated on my TA, and eventually knocked its blade out of its hands. The word "dead" flashed once again on its head. Peter obviously wasn't done.

"Oh but wait, is this your weapon? What kind of weapon is that? Maybe your parents couldn't afford something better, I mean, they're minor gods, times are rough for everybody".

That was it, I couldn't stand it any longer.

"Well, come down and fight me yourself if you think you're so much better than me" I told him, trying to put all my anger in my voice. More laughter. What were they thinking? That laughing made them look impressive?

"Well, sorry, I don't fight little girls like you. I wouldn't want to hurt you."

"Coward" I replied. That seemed to do the trick. His buddies stopped laughing, but he didn't lose his stupid grin.

"Well, if you insist." He stepped towards me, picking up his spear that lied on the ground. And just like that, I started fighting someone twice as tall, with a lot more experience and strength than me. Now remember what I said. I'm not scared easily. Or I wouldn't admit it. Or rather, when I'm facing someone I hate so much, I don't think about fear, only about beating Hades out of him.

I stepped in first, but he deflected me easily. I continued to play offence, not letting him the time to try and attack me. I knew I couldn't keep this up, but I didn't want to let him think I was going to go down easily. I guess the effect worked, and after a few strikes that he deflected, he looked at me, kind of impressed.

"Not bad for a little girl, not bad, but not sufficient."

A few people had started to take notice and gathered around us. He stepped in, putting me back into my defences. He nearly overwhelmed me, attacking with such speed, force and skills. I staggered backwards, falling back into my last defences, and I thought that was it. I saw the last strike coming. I even had the time to see him smiling, he knew he had won.

Never talk to fast. He was so slow, so enjoying himself, I quickly knocked his spear downwards with my staff. Now remember what I was saying about the blade unbalancing the spear? To compensate for it, you have to take the spear farther away, whereas I hold my staff at its middle. You'd think it's a disadvantage, but it's actually one of the best things about my weapon: I could use both of its sides with equal force. While knocking his spear downwards, I was also able to knock him on the shoulder with the other side of the staff, unbalancing him. He staggered backwards. The tip of his spear was on the ground, and before he could have the time to straighten himself, I kicked the spear out of his hands. He stood in front of me, weaponless; I had won. I just knocked on the side of his knee, pretending it was just the logical end of course of my last move. He fell to the ground, kneeling in front of me. It felt so good. He wasn't smiling now, was he?

Then I looked around. I didn't know if it was the wild look on my face or the fact that Peter was kneeling in front of me, but everybody was looking at me with horrified eyes. Well I guess I had successfully made my own rep, but maybe not the one I wanted.


	3. Chapter 3

So that's how it all started. I didn't have any friends. I didn't really care about them anyway.

I continued training with the TAs, beating it in hard mode. I also went to other classes, like mythology class, monster class, strategic planning (my mom's new class, where she invented battle plans and was going through the possibilities both sides had to win), and of course pegasi riding.

I wasn't really found of pegasi. I know I should, be you see, I had my own: Silver, very original name for a grey pegasus, who is the son of Blackjack (who became my father's immortal horse – yes, gods also get to pick up their immortal pet) and Foam.

Foam is my mother's pegasus, offered by Poseidon at their wedding. She is a white mare designed out of sea foam (hence the name, my mother really isn't very inventive) on my mother's image. Silver was the perfect mix of the two of them: loyal and intelligent, what gives a very stubborn horse who decided he'd chose his own rider. He chose me, I chose him, and nothing else.

But I still had to go to pegasi riding, even though I had been riding for years. The Aphrodite kid in charge of the pegasi wanted to put me on Caesar (a bit of a joke for a pegasus in a Greek camp), the old chestnut that had seen everything and didn't really care about what was happening on his back. But there was no way I would ride him. I had the ability from my dad to understand horse's thoughts, and apparently Caesar wasn't used to that. Or maybe he didn't care. The first thing he said when I came near wasn't really nice.

But Kelly, the annoyingly beautiful Aphrodite kid, insisted, saying it was nice to change from time to time. I hated her already. She was too pretty, and she acted too kind. I finally said yes and regretted it! Caesar bucked me off in mid-air and I free fell a few meters before falling into the sea. Fortunately, he had bucked me off just far enough so the water would cushion my fall, and my father being who he is, the water didn't harm me. I got out of the sea, still dry thanks to the powers I had inherited from my dad, and shot a murderous look at Kelly. "I don't understand, he's always so nice with everybody" she kept saying to me. Yes, well, she wasn't hearing the conversation I had with her precious Caesar.

Then after a few days of training came the first Capture the Flag game. I was so looking forward to it. Everybody had tried to get me in their team. Of course I turned down every offer until Athena asked me. I was then part of the blue team, along with Hephaestus, Iris, Hebe, Demeter and Apollo. It wasn't the best team ever, particularly when in front was Ares, Zeus and Nike. But we had our chances.

The head counsellor for cabin 6, John, posted me at the river, just in between the two territories. He probably thought it was the best spot for a descendant of Poseidon. It's true that my powers over water were handy, but I wasn't using them that much. I guess since that time when I had flooded my room and found out that the furniture didn't stay dry like me, I wasn't so keen on using them anymore, particularly when my parents found out.

Anyway, my post was pretty boring. It was an obvious post for crossing into enemy territory, so it wasn't used that much. Maybe it had been John's real intention, getting me out of the way.

At some point I decided to go a bit downstream. I can't say why or how, but I felt something was going to happen that way. I didn't need to go to far before hearing the enemies. A group of six, maybe more, was running towards the river at full speed. It wasn't an easy path to run through, but I guess they knew that the other paths would be guarded.

Because of course, they weren't running just for the sake of it. The guy in the middle had the blue flag. I didn't think about it twice, I just ran towards them. I could count them now: ten, five of them being Ares kids, ready to fight, and in the centre, the flag bearer was Peter, of course. I continued to run. I turned my ring around my finger, then around my hand, making my staff appear in my right hand. In my left hand, I had a big – adult size – defence shield. My chances were very thin. Of course they had seen me too, but they were laughing. I had beaten Peter in a one-to-one fight; that was a ten-to-one. I knew I had to stop them before they arrived at my level.

I left my instincts take over, meaning that I didn't think about the consequences of what I was about to do. I just thought: earthquake. But I didn't want to destroy the whole camp, so I just tried to concentrate on the piece of earth that was between them and me. I felt a sensation in my gut. When I summoned water it was kind of tugging sensation, but that was different, it seemed more like some sort of vibration, as if it were building in my gut and spreading through my body down to the ground.

The earth shook once, but it was too weak. I stopped running, trying to repeat the sensation, as if I wanted the vibrations to go through my feet with both feet on the ground. The earth shook once more, a little more strongly. The others were starting to understand, and they ran faster. Fortunately, the ground on this side of the wood was terribly uneven. They were nearly upon me. I could hear screaming on the other side of the river, a little more downstream. I concentrated again. This time the earth shook so violently that the tree next to me started to get uprooted. Peter was the first to fall, brought down by the weight of the flag. I ran towards them and attacked the first Ares kid who had kept his footing. I didn't even have time to strike for the second time that a second kid was fighting me, a Nike kid. I thought, "Great, I'm doomed", but I kept fighting anyways, dropping my shield to get a better control of my staff. Peter slowly got to his feet. There was no way I could hold them all off.

But then cheering echoed down the river. The voice of my father echoed through the wood: "Blue team wins"! And in those two seconds where I thought I'd done it, Peter threw himself at me, followed by his Ares buddies. There were only three of them, fortunately, but four against one still wasn't a fair fight. The others started yelling at us to stop, but Peter just kept going.

"You think you can make us loose and get away with it?" he said to me through greeted teeth. I was overwhelmed, but I wasn't going to let them win. I tried for more earth shaking; it was my last chance to at least make them loose their balance. But this time I didn't concentrate on just this area, and the whole forest shook, filling the forest of noises of branches cracking and falling. It worked, that's for sure. I felt great, until a herd of wood nymphs shot out of their trees and started to yell at me. "You've uprooted my tree!"

"And you made a nest fall from mine!"

"You shook off all my leaves, look at me"

But the wood nymphs were suddenly the least of my problems. The camper were all running towards me, my dad in front, and I didn't like the look on his face… Nobody was celebrating anymore. They all stopped and formed a circle around me, taking in the damages. The tree next to me started falling, completely uprooted. Everybody gasped and looked at me in horror, even more than when I had fought Peter. I had made myself a freak.

But the worst wasn't them. It was my dad. I had never seen him that mad. I wanted to explain to him that four of these guys had attacked me just because they'd lost, but I would have looked ridiculous in front of everybody else, making excuses for myself. At some point my dad just said: "Home, now" in such a calm voice that I knew I had crossed a line. My father was good at yelling. He'd yell until all the anger had come out. But this calm voice was worst than anything.

I wanted to cry and run away as fast as possible. But I wasn't going to do that in front of everybody. I just turned away calmly, and started walking slowly. I wasn't going to lose my dignity. Without me, they would have lost. When I knew I was out of sight, I ran, towards the Trident.

On my way back I could see that my earth shaking hadn't been contained to the forest. The first ones perhaps, but the last one, the stronger one, had probably been sensed all over camp, maybe even farther away. The weapons shed in the sword arena was on the ground. The nymphs were running everywhere, not knowing what had happened. A few other things had fallen to the ground, but nothing much. At least the buildings didn't seem to be damaged.

I crossed the beam bridge, entered the house as fast as I could, and ran to my room. I knew my mom was probably out with my two brothers, watching the game. But I didn't wait for confirmation. My room was on the left hand side of the house. The second one on this side was my brother's.

I knew I was in trouble. I knew I had risked destroying camp. I knew my parents would blame me for putting demigods' lives in danger. I wanted to run away. I didn't care about a lot of things, but deceiving my parents was something I couldn't bear. Well, you know, maybe when your parents were amongst the greatest heroes in history you felt a little need to stand up to their expectances. And right now I felt like the greatest looser in history.

I did the natural thing. I climbed up on the roof. You see, there was a little special thing since a few months ago, when my brother had asked my parents to take the roof off his room (yeah I know that's weird), replacing it by a catwalk all around his walls. There was now a rope ladder climbing up to the window on my roof, and behind that was a plank, that was supposedly a secret passage from my roof to my brother's room. Of course it was standing there in the open and it was no secrete passage, and I guess in the end it was easier just to get out of my door and walk the few metres that separated our two rooms. But that way just felt more… private.

My brother was just a year and a half younger than me. That's already not a lot in normal human's life, but imagine for us. My mother got pregnant with him right after she'd had me. I guess that's why we felt to close.

He had a hammock up in the far corner of his room. I don't really know why I came here. Maybe I thought I could hide here. Or maybe I just felt secure here. We had started to get the habit, my brother and I, just to sit there and do nothing, watching the sky. But right now the sky looked pretty bad, as were my chances of escaping my parents.

I don't know how long I stayed there. I kind of lost track of time. Then I heard my mother calling me in my room. I just waited there. Then I heard my father calling, and hearing the tone of his voice, I thought maybe facing him now would be better than facing him later. At least I could stay on the roof and stay far away from them. I got out of the hammock, climbed on the catwalk and crossed the plank back to my window. I looked down. My mother was holding my father's arm as if to say "calm down". I made a noise, deliberately. Better than to call on them. My father looked up first. He looked furious. I even could see traces of a cyclone forming around him. Then my mother looked up. She was always calm when it came down to a mistake I'd made. She preferred when people learned from them mistakes rather than just regretting them. Her stormy grey eyes were looking up at me gently, and I thought maybe it wasn't so bad. Then I looked at my father again, and I knew he didn't care about me regretting or learning.

"Come down here, Becca, please" my mother said in her soft voice. Of course I knew the soft voice was bad news. She only made the soft voice because she knew my father would do all the yelling. I started down the ladder slowly. Once on the ground, I looked at them, straight in the eyes. "Well, we're waiting for an explanation" my father said, his voice shaking with anger.

"I was just trying to defend myself. They were too many on me, I didn't really control it." Of course this was a big lie, but I didn't care, I just kept looking them in the eyes.

"Oh really, so you lost control when you swore to us you were in control?"

"I know dad, I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous what you did was?"

"I know dad, I'm sorry." I didn't feel very sorry; I just wanted to avoid the yelling. But I could sense the tension in his voice, how he was straining to keep it down.

"You could have made so much more damages." That was it, I knew in a few seconds he would yell the list of terrible things I could have done, including probably destroying New York and, let's face it, probably destroying Olympus too…

My mother was studying me with her grey eyes. I could almost see the gears turning in her mind, trying to analyse what had really happened. She knew I had lied. She knew I had done it on purpose; she'd just wait until my father was finished with the yelling. Then it started. "You could have killed people! You could have destroyed camp!" I just shut him off, not listening, like I always did. I started looking at my mother, just her. She was interrogating me silently, asking for my motives. I would tell her. Of course I would. You could tell my mother everything. "This is it Becca, you're coming back home tonight and you're not going back to camp until next year" my father yelled. I opened my mouth to reply but my mother shook her head slowly. I knew what she meant. She'd talk with him.

As I wasn't answering, my father stormed out of the room, nearly literally as the cyclone had grown a little stronger during the yelling. Then my mother motioned me to seat on the bed. I followed her. "Tell me." That's all she said. That's all it took. I told her.

"You said you sent four waves total, is that it?"

"Yes"

"Yet we only felt one…" The gears were turning again. She was thinking, fast. "Your father never used his earth-shaking powers. Or just this one time when he destroyed an entire island. I guess, maybe, you could control its radius, but that doesn't really seem possible. Your powers are Poseidon's; it's the powers of the sea. But then Percy can create his own cyclone, not a real one. Maybe that's what you did the first time, creating an earthquake just where you needed it. But then you lost control." She looked at me fondly. She wasn't mad. She was just trying to understand. "Don't worry, I'll talk to your dad. He'll come round."

Good thing with my father: he was never angry for long. He let me go back down to cabin three after talking with my mom. Bad news: I was now the freak at camp. From then on, I was looked at strangely; people were avoiding me, whispering as I walked by. I had always been the outsider, but now I was definitely an outcast. The worst: Peter seemed actually sorry for me. Him, of all people. I didn't want his pity.

I just continued as before, training on my own with the TAs, and riding my pegasus in my lost hours. Kelly wasn't talking to me anymore. Good.

* * *

One day, I was training in the swords arena with TA number 7. I was trying the very hard mode, and I was failing miserably. The TA kept surprising me, breaching through my defences. I stopped counting how many times I ate the sand of the arena, trying to ignore the bruises all over my body. Of course they'd heal, I'm immortal, so why bother. "You should try to use both your arms equally" said a voice behind me. "You have a tendency to keep your stick in one hand, and the TA keeps coming at your empty hand." I turned around. It was one of Peter's buddies, one of the Ares bully. He was tall, beefy, and so large you'd actually wonder how he could fit through the doors. Totally Ares like. "Why should I listen to you?"

"You don't have to."

I turned my back at him. I ordered the TA forward again. I started fighting, just like before. I deflected its blade a few times, getting the control over its attack. I saw it just before it happened: my staff was in my right hand, and after I deflected its blade with an outward movement, my left side stood completely undefended, and the TA moved in for its final strike: the flat of his blade knocked me directly in the ribs, and as I felt the pain expanding in my chest, I dropped my stick, and saw that word again on the head of the TA: "winner". I punched him on the head so hard it flew backwards and fell to the floor in a loud bang. It didn't write "dead" on its head though, so I just said it aloud for it.

I turned back towards the unknown (how come I didn't know his name?) Ares kid behind; who thought the situation was very funny. "I told you to change hands more often."

"Yeah well I got distracted."

"Distracted? Do you know how long I've been watching you?"

"What are you doing anyway, stalking?"

"Just looking at an interesting fight. Very few people succeed at the very hard mode."

"Yeah, and I bet you're one of them, and you just came here to show off."

"No. I just came here to look at an interesting fight."

"You said that already."

"Do you know what people are usually failing at that level?"

"Maybe because as its name says, it's a very hard mode."

"Yes but do you know why?"

"Do I look like I do?"

"You look like you should."

"Well go on then, you're so dying to tell me."

"Do you even know why they were created? I mean other than the very obvious reason that it allows Percy breathing space when he trains us."

"Why do you care?"

"It's my business to know my enemy's style of fighting."

"That's a very Athena thing to say."

"Athena would look at the weaknesses and strengths of each opponents, I only look at the style of my enemy."

"Well go on, tell me."

"They were created to match you better than a human would."

"All right, and what kind of information is that?"

"Well, think about it two seconds. If your enemy is only trying to match you, then he matches your style too, he doesn't have a style of his own. That's the TAs weakness."

"I'm listening."

"So, in beginners mode, it won't do anything to you, just strike back, and letting you win if you did something good. In advanced mode, it'll challenge you, but it won't do much else. It is defeated when he feels something getting better in your fighting. Then in hard mode, it starts getting a bit more interesting. It starts analysing you a little more deeply. It'll find out if you're better at attack or defence, and challenge you more and what you are better at. Then you get on to the very hard mode, where it finds your weak spot, and restlessly strikes you there. That's why you can't just start at any level, you have to start at beginners and go up, or it won't know you enough. And that's also why a lot of people don't go past that point. They can't identify their weak spot, or can't correct it."

"Did you ever get to the other modes?"

And just like that, we started talking. Nothing deep and personal, just fighting technique and TA utility. We spent quite some time together that day, even later in the night. The morning after we were back to hating each other, him on Peter's bully team, and me on my own. Truth is, he was right and he helped me a lot, but that was just it. I didn't even know his name…

Moreover, I had bigger problems in my hands the day after, because in the morning the first group that went down to the swords arena found a broken TA, it's bulletproof screen broken in a thousand pieces. Of course, it was TA number 7, and my name was written last on the borrowing list.


	4. Chapter 4

**_sorry for the slow start, there was just a few things you needed to know before I could really get on with the story. But here it is! Hope you like it!_**

* * *

My first thought was: that guy tricked me. It was just another game with Peter. They wanted me to get thrown out. But then I realised that I had punched the TA in the face, and never used it again or checked on it. I had just left it here, on the ground.

Of course nothing was unfixable. The TA was given to cabin nine and they fixed it in no time. The problem was, or rather the problems were: it was me again, I had broken something important when I had just promised my parents I wouldn't do anymore damages. And then the second problem: the TAs were made of super strong metal so we could strike at them without even denting them. And the screens on the face were protected by bulletproof glass. If even a bullet couldn't cross the glass, how could I have broken it with only my fist?

I didn't see the point of lying this time. I just told the truth. It was so ridiculous anyway to consider that I could have done that. My guess was that something had come after me and broke it, maybe something from the forest. Of course nobody believed me. But they couldn't find any explanation either.

But that was only the beginning. I really thought I could control my powers. Ok it had arrived several times that I'd just create a cyclone out of anger, but I stopped doing that when I destroyed the living room and I my parents had to buy new sofas and a new TV. But apparently there was still one thing that didn't want to get under control.

A week after the automaton incident, I was doing the cabin inspections with John, the senior counsellor for cabin 6. He was small and counted mostly on his brains, but don't underestimate him. He had been on more quests than anybody else at camp, and even if he weren't the best at combat, he'd always find a way to win. He was also one of the only people that I tolerated and who tolerated me.

We started at cabin 20, Hecate's cabin. We all knew that this cabin was always messy and dirty, but magically, each time there was an inspection, all the dirt seemed to just disappear. In other words, they were using the Mist. We gave them a five out of five after trying desperately to see through it.

Then it was cabin 18, Hebe's cabin. They were terrible at fighting, but not so bad to clean up.

We hesitated a long time before entering cabin 16. The kids of the goddess of revenge had always some bad things prepared for anyone who dared entering. Make a bad comment and you could be sure to find your bed covered in shampoo, or worst.

Then it was the turn to Iris cabin. I hated this cabin. They had so many fountains in there to be sure to have a rainbow somewhere at all times that the interior was always wet and cold. We gave them a two, and we were generous, trying to ignore the smell of moisture.

Cabin twelve was good, as always, even though everybody knew they did that to hide the bottles of wine under their bed, or so John said.

Then we knocked on cabin ten's door. We already knew the interior would be perfectly clean, like always. Aphrodite kids were such freaks when it came down to cleaning. The cabin was empty apart from Kelly who was waiting for us with her big, perfect smile. She motioned us to come inside, looking directly at John, ignoring me completely. Even John, the first row and first of class kind of guy, was completely under her spell. Seriously, get a grip. He gave the cabin a ten, I had to remind him that it was only out of five.

Then we went to his cabin, where his cabin-mates were desperately trying to put order into the incredible amount of books and notes that were flying everywhere. We gave them a three, because at least they were trying.

Then we got to the Demeter cabin. I wanted to give them a zero for all the flowers they had put everywhere. The smell was horrible, I just wanted to get out and run.

Then came cabin one, Zeus's cabin. Seriously, if I could have just let John do it on his own, it would have been great. He insisted. The cabin was in perfect order, just as creepy and cold as always. At first I thought Peter wasn't there, but then he appeared from behind the enormous statue of his father that stood there in the middle of the room. "Look who's here. The freak and the geek; such a cute, cute couple" he said, flashing us his perfect smile.

"Shut up Peter" answered John.

"Aw c'mon, you'd be great together, if Becca wasn't such a little girl". I clenched my fist, I didn't want to answer.

"A little girl that kicked your ass" continued John with his eternal calm.

"I just didn't want to hurt her. I mean honestly, fighting with a walking stick?"

I didn't mean it to happen. I mean, yes I did, but I didn't want to destroy the whole cabin. The sensation appeared again in my gut, that vibration building and moving through my body, down to the ground. I just wanted to see him falling and erase that stupid smile on his face. He fell all right, but so did John, and the bed next to him. I tried to shut it down then, realising I could do a lot more damages than intended. But it was too late, the vibrations had already left my body, there was no taking them back. The whole cabin shook. Fissures started in the ground and the walls. And then suddenly, when the last, more powerful wave made its way across the cabin, the head of Zeus's statue broke and fell to the ground. The shaking continued, but it wasn't from me, it was from the lightning that stroke on the cabin's roof. Last thing I remember was the electricity going through my body, then I blacked out.

* * *

I woke up with my parents looking down at me. My head hurt, but I was fine. Of course I was immortal, just a bit of ambrosia and nectar and I'll be fine. "What-? Where-?" were the only thing I could manage.

"Drink up" my mother told me, handing me a glass of nectar. Two mouthfuls sufficed to clear my mind.

"Where's John?" I asked.

"He's fine, still sleeping." I saw the lightning flashing again, not really understanding what had happened. It hadn't come towards Peter the way it usually does when he summons it.

"What happened?"

"Well, I guess Zeus got mad when you beheaded him" my father told me. He didn't seem angry. He just seemed relieved.

Zeus. The statue. The head. "Oops" was the only thing I could manage. My parents laughed. Then my father lost his relieved look, and stared at me with the angry face. He could change his mood so quickly sometimes. He didn't start yelling though. Put his daughter in the infirmary did the trick I guess.

"Becca, you have to stop with the earthquakes" he said gravely. "You put other's life in danger. What if the whole roof had collapsed on top of John and Peter? They could be dead, or gravely hurt. And believe me Zeus and Athena wouldn't be too happy about it. Mind you, Zeus is already mad for the beheading of his statue."

"I know, I'm sorry. Was there damages in the other cabins?"

"No, it seemed to have been contained to only cabin one."

"I guess you want me back home…"

"You have one last chance Becca. I guess you don't want Zeus on your back once again. And surely now you realised by hurting John that the power of earthquakes cannot be used only on enemies. It destroys everything, including things you don't want destroyed".

"Yes dad. It won't happen again."

I didn't feel sorry. I didn't care about Zeus, or the head of his statue. And John wasn't my friend. The truth is, I was intrigued. Only the cabin had been shaken up, just like in the woods the first time. Maybe, just maybe, I could control it. After all, my father said you couldn't, but he never tried.


	5. Chapter 5

From then on, I got more discreet. I caused no more trouble for the whole summer. I got so good at using my weapon that I never used the earth shaking against anyone. I even beat the TAs in very hard mode once or twice, very careful to avoid punching them in the head again. I got better at capture the flag too. The Athena cabin kept asking me to pair up with them. I guess they felt like I was a bit of their family too, and forgave me for the John incident – or maybe John told them to cut me some slack. In the beginning they kept me in defence. But one day I saw an opportunity and brought the flag myself, on my own, across the river. After that, nobody ever questioned me again.

Don't get me wrong. I never made friends. Friends are simply not my thing. After a while I even stopped going to the sing-along after dinner. I was usually hanging around with guys, just like that time when I spoke about strategy and TA training with the Ares kid – whose name was Tim by the way. I never made friend with any of them. We were just kind of hanging around, finding monsters or talking strategy.

But I hadn't abandoned my idea of controlling my earth shaking ability. I was going alone in the woods, trying to concentrate on only a certain area, and contain the vibrations to it. Soon I discovered that I could also spread the vibrations through my hands, and started trying to use my hand on some area and my feet on another. I looked ridiculous, but nobody was there the laugh at me anyway. The tree nymphs had renounced to yell at me. I guess the word had spread that I would uproot any tree that complained. Of course I wouldn't do it for real, I didn't want to loose control and shake the whole forest like before, but the threat worked on its own.

* * *

I had a dream one day, which was strange; dreaming is more a demigod's business, not immortals'. But I recognized directly why I was having this particular dream.

I was in throne room I know too well. My mother had designed it some years ago (long story). A dolphin was swimming overhead, looking down at me strangely. The whole room was made of a special underwater stone that would change colour depending on the current flowing through it. The colder the current, the more blue the colour, and the stronger the current, the brighter the colour. The throne in front of me was made of the same rock; only it was covered in seashells of many different colours, reflecting the colours of the walls. The ceiling was several storeys higher. In the centre was an enormous geyser that would propel you to the different storeys. We loved playing in it with my brother when we came down here.

I heard a familiar voice behind me, calling my name. When I turned, I saw my grand father behind me, Poseidon, with his kind smile and his sea green eyes, the same than my father's. "I need to show you something. I understand that you are at camp Half-Blood and that your father insists and you being treated just like any half-bloods. So I won't explain things to you, I wouldn't respect his choice then. Good luck."

The dream changed. I was in another bay, somewhere else in America. It wasn't the same time period; it seemed to be in the past, way before I was born. It seemed to be a camp for teenagers too, but not Camp Half-Blood. There weren't eucalyptus trees on Long Island, and here, the smell was overwhelming, even in a dream. I was between a beach and barracks. The barracks were all parallel, with a wide alley in the middle, leading to an enormous building that looked just like a bank, with white columns and severe-looking guards. An enormous purple banner was hung over the entry, with the letters SPQR on it.

I knew immediately where I was. Camp Jupiter. This building with the banners and the guards was the principia. But this didn't seem right. There wasn't any beach at Camp Jupiter. My father had described the place to me, and all there was was a river called the Little Tiber.

Right next to me sat a boy, older than me. He was playing absent-mindedly with a golden sword. I had never seen Imperial Gold, but I recognised it directly. He looked quite tall and muscular. He didn't look American, Asian maybe. For some reason, he looked familiar, even if I didn't know anybody from Camp Jupiter, much less someone Asian.

Suddenly, the earth started shaking. A simple wave that only got the campers to look around nervously. A few seconds passed. A second wave shook the camp a little more strongly. A few seconds again, and a third wave shook the earth again. Campers started to get agitated. A few of them let a little scream escape them. A longer time seemed to pass. But the fourth wave was enough to send the entire legion in a panic. The guy next to me was stunned. He had stopped playing with his sword, but didn't do anything else. Everybody was running in every direction, trying to find some kind of shed. The fifth wave was so violent that some fissures started to appear on the sides of the barracks and some noises looked suspiciously like things breaking inside.

Someone in a purple toga came out of the principia – a praetor surely. He started yelling "Everybody stay outside, away from trees!" but chaos were already unleashed. Campers were running everywhere. The Asian boy was so pale I thought he was going to be sick.

The praetor turned his head and saw him. He ran towards him, with a terrible look in his eyes. "You! Curse you! Stop it! Stop it now! It's an order!" The guy didn't even move a finger. He was still stunned, as if glued to his chair. Another wave shook the earth. Trees started falling, the roofs of the barracks were giving away, and the columns of the principia were threatening to collapse. Another wave brought the final blow. I didn't have the time to the see the damage, but I knew the entire camp was wrecked. My dream changed again.

The praetor had survived, as well as the Asian guy that had stood stunned during the whole earthquake. He was standing in the middle of all the other survivors. They were somewhere else, probably not far from where their camp, now destroyed, was. I recognised the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. The eucalyptus smell was still very strong.

Some of the campers laid on the ground, wounded. But everybody had their eyes fixed on the praetor and the Asian boy. The praetor started talking. "In absence of the regular council to decide on your judgement, I decided to submit the entire legion to a vote. So let them hear what you have to say for your defence, Shen Lun, legacy of Neptune."

The Asian boy answered, looking at the ground. He looked terrified. "It wasn't me. I can't explain. I don't know what happened. But I swear it wasn't me! I can't even do earthquakes!" He was so desperate, and he looked so honest. But the others didn't believe him. Some shook their head in the audience.

"And why should we believe you? You are the legacy of the god of earthquakes, if you didn't do it, he did it, to punish you!" said someone in the crowd. The crowd starting screaming "Yes, it's your fault!" in agreement.

"Silence!" urged the praetor. The crowd fell silent instantaneously. The praetor continued: "Anything else to say for your defence?" The Asian boy, Shen Lun, didn't say anything else. He was shocked, paler than Hades, and probably ready to be sick.

"Then it is time for a vote. Raise your hand, those who believe him guilty!" Nearly everybody raised their hands, even some of the injured on the ground. No need to count, the majority agreed.

"The majority has decided. You were judged guilty by the legion. Your act led to the destruction of our camp, and the death of many legionnaires. You are therefore accused of treason and murder, and sentenced to death." The crowd cheered. But it wasn't the happy kind of cheering. They looked like predators ready to slay their prey.

The dream shifted. I was in a classroom, the sun glowing through the windows. On the walls were photos and drawings of Greek and Latin statues and mosaics. The children around me looked to be around twelve years old – sixth graders. The teacher, sat in a wheelchair, had his back turned against the room and was writing on the board. The title was "Myths and Heroes" written in white chalk on the black board. When the teacher turned, I recognised him immediately, with his bushy eyebrows and his brown beard. It was Chiron, in his human form, probably teaching a Latin class to keep an eye on a demigod. He started talking to the class: "Who can tell me what heroes were in mythology?"

Someone in the room answered: "Children of the gods that lived on earth and battled against monsters."

"Correct, but these children of the gods were different. They were the children of a god and a mortal. Who can give me the names of famous heroes?"

"Hercules, son of Zeus" the same pupil answered. "But not all of them were children of the gods. Jason was a famous hero, but he had no godly parent."

"That is true. That is why some believe that heroes really existed, that they claimed being the children of the gods, but that they were only mortals. After all, other myths were inspired from the stories of Greek and Roman heroes."

"What stories? Tell us!"

"Very well. Do you know the story of King Arthur, and how he was made a king? He wasn't the heir of the king of his kingdom; he was simply one of the inhabitants of the kingdom. But the king was dying, and he had no heir. He decided to drive his sword inside a rock, and declared that anybody strong enough to take the sword out would be the new king.

Every men of the kingdom tried. The word spread, and soon men from the neighbouring kingdom came. But nobody was able to take the sword out, until the little Arthur, who was only a poor thirteen-year-old boy, came and took the sword out.

That is the medieval legend. But another legend says that the king was a demigod, a son of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and the god of earthquakes. That legend says that when he drove the sword inside the rock, he created a vibration that spread along the blade and sealed the blade inside the rock; just as if he were creating an earthquake inside the rock." I don't know if I imagined it, but at this particular moment, Chiron looked right at me, just for a second. Then he continued: "Thus, only a true descendant of Poseidon could retrieve the blade, by the same process. And that is why only the small Arthur, possibly a demigod of Poseidon himself, was capable of retrieving the blade."

I woke up in cabin three. Dawn was breaking outside. I thought about my dream. Poseidon had wanted to tell me something. I didn't know if it was a clue or a warning, but one thing was clear: this poor kid in my first dream had been sentenced to death and had destroyed all the camp. Although it wasn't very clear if he had done it or not; he claimed to be innocent. But he was still considered guilty in the end. But then, what about that King Arthur story? I guess if Poseidon sent me the vision, it was true, although Chiron had to say it was only a myth, because of course he started saying to sixth graders that gods were real, he'd finish in a mental hospital. So what was Poseidon's message? It can get you killed (well, rejected by everybody anyway, I couldn't die) or make you a queen?

I guess he had foreseen something, already then. But he wasn't going to tell me. Of course, I wasn't a demigod, so if he wanted to explain things more quickly, he could. But still, he couldn't tell me everything. I had to figure things out on my own.

In the morning, I set off in the woods again. I thought about how the king had been able to put his sword in the rock by spreading the vibration through the blade. What if I could do the same with my staff? But surely a wave like that would shatter the bronze. Maybe it was a Celestial bronze blade, and it was able to spread the vibration without breaking it. I decided to go to the armoury before going to the woods. I didn't mind breaking someone else's sword, but not my magical staff.

Once in the wood with my selection of Celestial bronze weapons (swords, knives, spears…), I set off to work. First, I trained myself with just my hands. When I felt the earth responding, took out one of the knives. Maybe it would be easier with a shorter blade. I concentrated on the small area around the blade. In the beginning, nothing happened. I threw the knife on the ground in frustration. When it touched the ground, I felt a little vibration on the ground. Typical, I succeed without trying, when two seconds ago I wasn't able to do anything. I picked the knife off the ground. I put the blade on the ground on the again, but this time, I focused on the blade instead. I felt the vibration going down my arm, through the blade, and finally to the ground. But then the vibration in the ground wasn't confined to a certain area. It just spread until it died. I tried again. This time, when the vibration was going through the blade, I started concentrating on an area on the ground. After a few tries, I was able to control the vibration perfectly.

I tried with the sword the same way. It took me a few tries to be able to do it properly. The Celestial bronze seemed to hold. Then I tried with the spear. Unfortunately, only the tip was made of Celestial bronze, and when the vibration spread through the wood, it exploded in a million pieces, leaving splinters in my skin. After a few curses in Ancient Greek and a few splinters taken out, I tried again with the sword. Apparently only Celestial bronze was capable of withholding the vibrations. That gave me an idea.

I started picking up things in the wood: stones, branches, even insects. I shook the stones until only sand remained. I shook the branch under my shoe, to avoid the splinters. I discovered I was able to contain the vibration to the branch only, even though the branch was on the ground. I tried an insect only once, and I spare you the details. It was disgusting.

After a while, when I started feeling more in control, I turned my ring around my finger, making my staff appear. It was made of Celestial bronze; it should be able to withhold the vibration. I saw a little rock nearby sticking out of the ground. I raised my staff over it, creating a vibration in my gut. When I put the staff down on the ground, I commended the vibration to stay in the rock. The rock was split in two on impact, but the ground around it remained unaffected. I smiled triumphantly. Controlling the waves, talking to horses, creating personal cyclones, those things were cool. Splitting rocks with just one strike of my staff, that was awesome.

* * *

I felt super powerful. The sad thing was that nobody knew about it. I didn't want my parents to freak about it. And I didn't want the other campers to freak about me. It's not like I could use something like this in combat. I mean, I had seen what it could do to a poor little insect; I didn't want to know what it could do to a human.

I thought about the TA, and how I had punched one and broken its screen. I hadn't broken the TA, or even dented the Celestial bronze. I had only broken the bulletproof glass. I knew how I had done it now. It was absolutely disconcerting how I had done it without realising, and how it had asked all these weeks and this training for me to do it again. I guess that's why my father wanted to keep us away. We weren't demigods. We were powerful at birth, and very powerful.

He probably had the same capacity than me. But he had never dared using it or developing it like me. He was probably too scared of destroying everything and killing people.

But then of course at some point I couldn't resist anymore, and things went wrong. I was in the stables, brushing one of the horses silently. Originally, I came up here to take care of Silver, but my dad had taken him for something he needed done with Blackjack and him. I was vaguely aware of what happening outside. Then at some point I heard two people, talking. I recognized Peter's voice. The other was a girl's voice. I stopped brushing the horse and started to listen. "Leave me alone, Peter"

"Aw c'mon, you're a pretty girl, I'm a good looking guy, I'll show you, I can be sweet. Whatever you want I'll do it."

"Well, leave me alone then!" The girl came out of the tack room. I recognized her perfect hair and perfect silhouette: Kelly. She picked up a wheelbarrow and a fork. I couldn't believe she was actually going to clean the stables… She opened the first stable of a bay horse. She started mucking out silently, not paying much attention to Peter. But he wasn't finished. "Do you want me do to it for you? I could do that."

"Or you would find some poor kid and bully him into doing it, more likely."

"Well, possibly, so I could spend some private time with you."

"I don't want to spend any private time with you Peter." She staid so calm, like she couldn't care less about Peter's attitude. Or maybe she was just used to it… She walked out of the stable with her fork and wheelbarrow, closed the door of the stable, and walked up to the second. "I'm sure you have better to do Peter. I enjoy being with horses. I don't mind mucking out. But thank you for your concern." She was always so annoyingly nice. No wonder boys kept following her everywhere.

"Why don't you just give me a chance? Just a date, ok? Just one! It won't kill you!"

"I don't do dates."

"Hum, okay, I had heard rumours about you being a whore. Well apparently that's true. An evening in the woods then?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He had just insulted her, and she did nothing. She just took her fork and her wheelbarrow and started cleaning the third stable.

As much as I disliked Kelly, I couldn't just stand there and watch. I walked out of the stable, anger pounding through my veins. "She said no, now live her alone" I said to Peter. He looked up, surprised to see me there. Even Kelly looked up, more shocked by my sudden appearance than Peter's insult.

"You. Flying to Kelly's rescue. How cute" Peter said. Kelly blushed. He stepped towards me. "And what are you gonna do about it? Shake the whole stable and kill the horses?" I didn't respond. I knew what he was trying to do. I wasn't going to let him win.

I heard the sound of hooves outside, certainly coming towards the stables. Kelly got out of her stable with the wheelbarrow. I saw the occasion coming. She left the wheelbarrow with the fork in it, just in front of Peter, just the time to close the stable's door. I sized my chance, picked up the fork, and turned the wheelbarrow upside down. For good measure, I planted the fork in the muck. I mean, a little deeper than that… I concentrated on a very little vibration, just enough the sink the tip of the fork. The wood of the shaft creaked and fissured but didn't break. I went back to where I was standing.

Kelly was throwing me disgusted looks. Insult her and she doesn't say anything. Turn her wheelbarrow upside down and she'd never forgive you. But I had other plans. She motioned towards the wheelbarrow. "Don't pick it up. Don't let him mess with you" I said very loudly. She looked up at me, surprised.

It had the effect intended, as I heard my father's voice asking: "What happened here?"

Before Kelly or Peter could recover their voices, I answered: "Kelly was mucking out the stables and Peter turned her wheelbarrow upside down." I seemed so convincing.

"Peter, why would you do that?"

"I didn't! She did it!" Peter answered, pointing at me accusingly. My father threw him an exasperated look. After all, my father wasn't a big fan of Zeus's kids, particularly Peter. I didn't leave him the chance to believe him. I continued: "Kelly kept refusing him on a date, and rather than just leaving her alone, he just insulted her and did this."

My father was buying it completely. He loved punishing Peter. He was the big bully around camp, and I knew how my father was towards bullies. But Peter was always really good at finding himself excuses; this was a very rare occasion.

"Kelly, is that true?" my father asked. She looked up at him, then at me. I nodded encouragingly. She looked back at my father and said: "Yes."

"Very well. Peter, you will clean up your mess and finish cleaning the stables."

"But Percy I promise it's not me!"

"Do you want me to repeat what you said to her?" I continued. He wasn't going to go away with it. He didn't respond, looking back from me to my father.

My father dismounted and brought Silver and Blackjack in their stables. Peter was eyeing me with such hatred. I just felt triumphant. Kelly seemed unsure. But I guess she'd forgive me. Heck, I didn't care what she thought. All that mattered is that Peter got what he deserved.

On his way out, my father turned to Peter. "Well, the stables aren't going to clean up on their own. Kelly, come tell me if he forces a kid to do his job. Can I count on you?" Kelly blushed, but looked up and said: "Yes, of course." And my father left.

"You. Are. So. Dead!" Peter said to me through clenched teeth.

"Yeah well, we'll see about that. Come on Poop Scooper, you heard Percy, muck isn't going to clean itself!"

He moved towards the fork. Now that was the best part. He tried to pull it out, but of course he couldn't. I started laughing. Even Kelly was laughing. He put his two hands on the shaft and tried to pull harder. The fork didn't even move a little.

It got even better when other campers came back from a pegasi lesson. Each one passing Peter looked at him trying so hard to pull the fork out of the muck and laughed at him.

"Do you know the legend of King Arthur Peter?" I asked him, still laughing.

"How do I care."

"Such a shame" I continued to laugh and got out of the stables.

* * *

I have to say, this was brilliant. Unfortunately, just like Excalibur, nobody was able to get the fork out of the cement. The muck had been removed around it, and it was clear that the fork was directly in the cement. It left my father completely puzzled. But he wasn't stupid. Maybe he knew about the legend. Or maybe it was just written on my face.

So I came up to the fork and took it off. For good measure, the shaft broke when the wave spread through it, not able to withhold a second one. I ended up holding the steel part directly and took it out of the cement.

Then came the time for the painful explanation. I told him how I had a dream about Chiron telling the legend to a class, leaving out the part of the earthquake at Camp Jupiter and the little introduction with Poseidon. Then I explained how I went into the woods and started practising. When I was finished, I didn't know if he was more angry, surprised or proud.

"You went into the woods and practiced your earth shaking powers when I told you to stop using them? You disobeyed me! And now you broke the cement in the stables! But wait, how did you make the vibration go through the fork, and then in the ground, without cracking the entire floor?" he asked me, half yelling, half thinking.

"I told you, I can control the wave. When it touches the ground I can contain it in a small area."

"Whoa, that's really cool. I mean, you disobeyed me! You could've destroyed the whole stables!"

"But I didn't!"

"You still broke the fork and lied to me, accusing Peter for no reason."

"I did have a reason. The bastard was insulting her 'cause she was refusing him and she did nothing! Besides, he just got what he deserved."

"First, watch your language, and second, you still lied to me. If he was insulting Kelly then it was Kelly's business."

Of course he was right. I didn't answer anything. I'm not sure he really knew what to say either. He was impressed. That was so cool. Sort of.

"Tomorrow, you apologize to him. And you clean up the stables."

"But dad!"

"No arguing Becca! You've done enough, that's only a small compensation."

I knew there was no arguing with him. I didn't mind cleaning the stables. But I'd really have to apologize to Peter. At least now I had found a cool nickname for him.


	6. Chapter 6

So you'd think that now I'd use my powers all the time? Truth is, in the end, I still didn't dare. What if I lose control again? What will happen if I try it on a human? Demigods can still die. It's annoying. Anyway nobody else than my dad knew about my special ability. Nobody knew how three little wholes had appeared in the stables, and soon everybody forgot about them. Well, that's until they started cracking open and the cement had to be redone. My dad sent me selling strawberries to pay for it…  
In the end, the rest of the summer was pretty much eventless. I spent my days training, riding Silver, hanging around with boys, and winning more capture the flag. I was starting to be really good at those. Give me a flag do defend or to steal and nothing could stop me. I was never put on border patrol again.

Then August came, and the summer at camp was over. I got my leather necklace and my first bead with a tree on it. I guess it was to remind me of how many wood nymphs I had upset during the summer.

And after my first summer at camp came my first year at school. You probably know everything you need to know about camp and demigods, but you don't know a lot about Olympus. The truth is, there is a lot going on on Olympus. The mountain is a real city, with a lot of immortals living there.

You have to understand the difference between immortal and god. There are the major gods, the Olympians, all powerful, then there are the minor gods, their children or heroes turned into god, that have a precise role and purpose. Immortals are basically unimportant children of the gods. They're just people, only they're immortals because their blood is ichor, which is the only thing they inherited from their godly parents.

As you know, immortals can't die, but they can "fade". Someone like Zeus won't fade because he has the power of the sky, but someone with less power will eventually just disappear, like Pan when the wild started being destroyed. So immortals that are not gods and therefore have no power grow old and fade eventually. They may live for longer than mortals, a few hundred years if they're lucky (meaning if they have an important role in the community).

What determines if you are a minor god or an immortal? We don't know exactly. What happens is that children of the gods (or of simple immortals) go to school on Olympus where they learn to develop their powers. At the end of school, what corresponds to being twenty-one years old, you either loose your powers and become an immortal, or you develop your powers and become a minor god working for your godly parents or another god of your choice. That's basically the purpose of OSA – Olympus School and Academy.

Olympus is divided in three parts: "The Front", "The Back", and "The Wild". It's not too hard to figure out what each parts are. The Front was the nicest part of the mountain, where all the richest of the richest immortals lived, amongst the palaces of the major gods. That's where OSA was, surrounded by a park that overlooked Manhattan. Then you had the Back, where the least rich immortals lived, but don't think it's a poor part, it's only less rich. It's very expansive to live on Olympus, the ones that were poor were living on earth. And there is a side of the mountain that was so steep that no buildings had been built there. That's where a lot of nature spirits lived, the ones that were the luckiest.

I came up to OSA with Silver, surrounded by Blackjack and Foam and my parents. OSA was a beautiful place. Of course it was, my mother designed it. It was completely destroyed after the Titan war, as it was exactly in the path between the elevator and the gods' palace.

It was made entirely of white stone, five storeys high, with four white columns in front of the entrance and stairs leading up to it, Parthenon style. The entrance was an enormous double door made of gold, surrounded by representations of the twelve Olympians carved in the stone, Zeus on the left side of the door, and Hera on the right.

When you entered through the double doors, two offices were placed on each side of the door, where caretakers were checking your identity. The entry hall was enormous. It was bathed in sunlight as there was an enormous glass dome on the roof. Over us, you could see the four other storeys; lines of doors probably leading to classes. Straight in front was another double doors with the word "amphitheatre" written over it. And all around us were corridors labelled with where they were leading: "library", "classes 1 to 49", "stairs", etc.

Older students were posted everywhere in the hall, indicating directions to parents. They were wearing orange t-shirts with "OSA Orientation Guide" written on it. One of them looked at my parents, and then threw me a disgusted look, as if I had done something horrible. Go figure. Then he told my parents "This way for first years", pointing to the amphitheatre. "The President will be giving his welcoming speech in a few minutes" he said again. I didn't know why he was looking at me that way, but one thing was sure, we weren't about to me make friends.

We entered the amphitheatre. Of course my mother knew the place already, and was explaining to my father how it has taken months to build it correctly. I wasn't listening. Like I care, honestly. "In total, it can welcome five hundred people, and you see the first row, how it was designed? It mirrors the Throne Room, and each seat is dedicated to an Olympian god with special designs for each of them. That's just in case the gods decide to pay a visit to the school; they'd have their own seat" my mother explained.

I didn't know if it was my imagination, but several times other students looked at my parents and me strangely, like we had done something horrible. I just tried to act as though they didn't exist.

Suddenly the whole amphitheatre goes silent. When I looked down, I saw that a man in a grey suit has come on stage. He was small and fat, his bald scalp reflecting the light. He didn't seem like much, but even from this distance, I could feel the aura of authority that was emanating from him. Next to him was an elegant women, who seemed in all point perfect, as though everything about her was measured, from the length of her skirt, arriving just above her knees, to the position of her bun, perfectly in the middle of her head, with no hair hanging loose. The man started to talk first.

"Good morning everyone, and welcome to Olympus School and Academy. For those who don't already know me, I am Gnosis, the god of Knowledge, and the President of OSA. And this is Paideia, the goddess of Education, and also Vice-President. We are all united today…" I stop listening. This is going to be one long boring speech.

Several times I caught the guy sitting in front of me turning and staring at my parents for a few seconds. At some point he turned in my direction, and I saw that him too looked at me as though I did something terrible. "What's the matter with you?" I asked him. He turned his head away and didn't respond.

The rest of the morning was basically walking around the school with our parents, following the guides telling you how wonderful the school is, with my mother explaining every so often how this or that was built and how and why. Boring. Then came lunch, and the parents had the go. "I'm sure you'll love it here Becca! Try to make friends, and please do not destroy anything" my mother said to me before leaving. My father just smiled at me and waved me goodbye.

I joined the group following the guy with the "first year" sign. He brought us down an alleyway, up the stairs and into a classroom. I don't know how I'll ever be able to find my way around this place. Don't know what my mother had in mind when she designed the place, but she obviously enjoyed the idea of losing students in the corridors. I'm sure there's a logic to it, but certainly a logic only her can understand.

We were welcomed by miss perfection herself, Paideia, the goddess of education. "Hi class, welcome to OSA! Please take a sit, whichever you like, and we will get started. Chop-chop!"

She spoke with a high-pitched voice, slow and annoying, as though she were talking to a bunch of idiots. Maybe that's how she saw us. Of course I got to choose the table where nobody else was sited, at the back of the class.

"Well now, each of you will now sit up and introduce yourself to the class, saying your names, your godly origins, and one or two words about yourself, starting with you on the front row. On you go!"

I didn't really listen to that. There was a few major gods' kids, but mostly they were kids from immortals or minor gods. We still had the honour of having a son of Zeus, and he was sitting right in front of me. When my turn came, he turned around and had to wave his hand frantically in front of my face to take me out of my reverie. "Erm, yeah right, I'm Rebecca Jackson, my dad's the gods of Demigods, and I… I love fighting." What a good introduction, well done Becca. A few people, once again, threw me disgusted looks. I have no idea what I had done to these people, but apparently it wasn't nice.

"Well, now that everybody is presented, I will make a few announcements and explain to you how OSA works…" I stopped listening to Paideia when the kid in front of me, the son of Zeus, turned around and said:

"You should never have come here, you will pay for what your father did."

* * *

 ** _So what about that? What did Percy do that could upset the immortal children of the gods?_**

 ** _And what will Becca do about that?_**

 ** _Comment and tell me what you think!_**


	7. Chapter 7

**_I have decided to write all what's happening before that rather than explaining it quickly here. So that story will not be updated for a while, as I like to concentrate on 1 thing only. But once I've finished with the prequel, I will come back to this and I will finish it!_**

 ** _It will take the form of a series, with The Rise of the Earth being Book II_**

 ** _So check out the Book I: A New Order !_**


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